The present invention relates to making composite material parts and more particularly to making reinforcing fiber structures for such parts.
A field of application of the invention is more particularly making parts out of structural composite material, i.e. structural parts having fiber reinforcement that is densified by a matrix. Composite materials enable parts to be made of overall weight that is less than the same parts would have if they were made of a metallic material.
The cost of fabricating parts of standard shapes (simple shapes such as shrouds, plates, etc.) that are made out of composite material is usually well controlled since, in most situations, the fiber reinforcement of the part is made as a single piece presenting shape and dimensions close to those of the final part that is to be made, thereby minimizing the amount of scrap material that is cut off while enabling mechanical forces to be well distributed.
In contrast, making parts of shapes that are more complex out of composite material often requires portions to be cut off, and consequently gives rise to large amounts of scrap while making the fiber reinforcement of the part. Such losses during the making of these parts is economically penalizing since the fibers used are generally rather expensive.